Posts Tagged with Armored Core

I’m a big fan of the Armored Core series. Ever since I sat down and beat the crap out of Armored Core: Masters of Arena, I’ve been hooked.

For those of you not familiar with the series: it’s the Gran Turismo of giant robot games. Basically, you play a Raven (name for an Armored Core pilot) who pilots a giant mecha (the Armored Core). You’re a mercenary, so your main goal is determined by the highest bidder, though they always manage to work a bit more than that into the story. It usually revolves around warring companies fighting over the last scraps of humanity sometime in the future.

That’s not why the game is so cool, though.

What makes Armored Core the mecha game is customization. You don’t just pick a prefab mech, slap some weapons on, and have at it (ala Mech Warrior). Oh no: you build the most fantabulous, most splendiferous, most bad-ass, biggest mama-jama mecha your money can buy, from the ground up. Head, arms, torso (core), legs, boosters, radiator, FCS (Fire Control System), generator, optionals, insides, extensions, back units (both left and right), and arm units (both left and right) are all up for your choosing, and to finish it off, slap on a custom paint job and unique emblem so everybody knows not just how kick-ass you are, but who you are.

That’s right, boys and girls. Armored Core is the end-all be-all of big bad-ass mecha customization. Tank treds, hover legs, weapon arms, radar-equipped head units, internal mine throwers, rear-mounted dual missile-launchers (with four-way warheads), laser rifles, energy shields, mega boosters: this game has it all. There’s just no better feeling then custom building a mech to your specific style of play, then watching as it drops to one knee, linear cannon extending, and laying waste to everything in sight.

The only reason I can think of that this game isn’t as big as, say, Metal Gear or the aforementioned Gran Turismo are the controls. You actually need to use every button on the controller. Some games have something mapped to every button, but you rarely actually need to use them all. Not so with Armored Core: every button on the controller is important, especially in the heat of combat (where you’ll be spending most of your time). It takes a lot of skill to change view, switch weapons, boost, and land solid hits on your opponent in this game. It’s also one of the reasons I doubt it will ever appear on another system: their controllers just aren’t equipped to handle it. Hell, the PS2 controller is barely equipped to handle it.

If you haven’t played this game, I highly recommend it. The controls are definitely an acquired taste, but if you can get past those, it’s all good. There’s just nothing else like this, anywhere, on any system (console or PC).

Actually, I had started this post with the intent of discussing the first robot customization game I ever played, way back on the Sega Genesis: Cyborg Justice. It’s not nearly as cool as Armored Core, though, and the controls are even more horrendous. So just go get Armored Core (and a PS2, should the need arise) and get cracking.

Before I get going on my list of totally kick-ass games you should be playing (or should have been playing), let me give a shout out to my good buddy Matt, who just set up his new site, NeQuis. Go check it out (but first, finishing reading this post)!

Now on to the games:

• Armored Core (Series): This game has never, in my opinion, received the respect it deserves. That may have something to do with the controls, which require the use of every single button on the controller (that’s 12, not counting the D-Pad or Left Analog Stick for movement); it’s definitely an aquired taste. Still, it’s the Gran Turismo of giant robot games, with millions of possible combinations of arms, legs, cores (torsos), heads, armaments, boosters, rediators, internals, etc. It’s just amazing; there’s no better feeling than beating down the opposition in a custom made, totally bad-ass, bristling-with-weapons, fully armored four-story robot.
• Chrono Trigger: Made by the folks over at Square, this is one of the greatest RPG’s ever made. You play Crono, the spiky-haired silent hero, who must travel through time to stop the evil space alien, Lavos. It’s pretty old now, having debuted on the Super Nintendo, but it’s still one hell of a game. I would also recommend Chrono Cross, but only if you’re a serious fan of this game. Chrono Cross, by itself, is just not that great a game.
• Guilty Gear X2: This game proves that 2D graphics still have a place in games. If you’ve never seen it, you’re missing out; it has some of the best, high-res, fully AA’d graphics ever. Not to mention that the fighting is just insane and the characters are about as original and over-the-top as you can get.
• Silent Hill (Series): If you’ve never played any of these games, you have seriously missed out. Resident Evil defined the modern survival horror genre, but Silent Hill continues to take it to places other people wish they didn’t dream about. Even the original, which debuted on the Playstation, is still scary as hell (despite the fact that the graphics haven’t exactly aged well). Really, if you play any of them, I recommend number one. Two is a bit slow and three a bit heavy on the action. They’re all tremendous, though, so you should really be playing them all 
• SSX: Greatest. Snowboarding game. Ever. Tricky was mostly a rehash of the original, but with the advent of SSX 3, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be playing this game. Unless you just really hate snowboarding.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll probably do more later on, but that should give you something to do.